Silicon Pulse Sharpening Diodes - Switching Kilovolts in 10's of Picoseconds+

Abstract

Silicon pulse sharpening diodes were first described by Grekhov et al. [1] in the USSR. Grekhov's work described generation of several kilovolt pulses with rise times in the order of 200 ps. We have been studying these diodes for applications requiring fast, high voltage, low jitter, electrically triggered pulses. The fastest rise times we have observed to date are approximately 70 ps for 1-2 KV pulses. Theoretical calculations using a numerical simulation of the operation of theses devices indicates that rise times shorter than 30 ps should be achieved with optimally designed structures.